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Recommended Items
Runes: AP Bruiser
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health
Spells:
Flash
Scorchclaw Smite
Items
Ability Order E > Q > W
Fury of the Dragonborn (PASSIVE)
Shyvana Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Graves
Watch out for his early invades with wards at the entrance of your jungle. Graves likes to either level 1 late invade or level 2 invade after doing his red. Try to avoid fighting him in the jungle and you should be able to outscale him.

IGN: Citric Region: NA




I've been playing since Season 2 and have played a handful of champions and roles throughout the years. Other than Shyvana, my favorite champions are





I picked up


Although I no longer play as much as before, this guide is an attempt to share with you a condensed version of all that I've learned. The secret knowledge of this champion brought me all the way to 1000+ LP in Challenger while one-tricking this champion.

Warning:


Mechanically easy
There are no flashy combos. This champion is easy to learn because her dueling is fairly one-dimensional.
Fast farmer
Her kit allows her to clear the jungle fast. Smart pathing allows her to consistently gain a sizable farm lead over her opponents.
Snowballs with lead
Snowballs easily as a result of being a fast farmer. Enemy jungler will have a hard time keeping up if they are put behind.
High damage
High base damage combined with high ratios allows her to hard carry games if played correctly.
Almost never banned
This allows for one-tricking and can be used to your advantage as most people don't know how to play against a Shyvana.

Difficult when behind
Due to being mechanically easy champion, she has less opportunities to make a comeback when behind.
Easily kited
This is especially true for early levels and AD builds. Being crowd controlled and fighting ranged champions can be quite frustrating.
Easily invaded
In the early game, she is vulnerable to aggressive invades. In particular, watch out for strong early game duelists.
Unpopular
Low pick rate means less content about the champion. People don't know how to play with a Shyvana.
Relies on ultimate
Has a very basic human form kit and heavily relies on playing around her ultimate. No cc means ganks are harder to pull off.


Warning:




Also, 3 of



Full AP vs AP Bruiser?
Example:


Below are examples of how strong each build can be. See for yourself!
Full AP
AD Shyvana
AP Bruiser






When I suggest options to certain runes, it just means that I think either is viable. Try them out yourself and see which is more fitting to your playstyle. Not everything is black and white and you should test them out to see for yourself.

Press the Attack
This is the standard rune for AD Shyvana because it is easily proc'd with an AA +



Lethal Tempo
This is the alternative keystone in the Precision tree. To get full value, you would need items like





Sorcery

Slot 1
Nimbus Cloak is the only consistent rune in this slot. It provides extra mobility for chases and escapes. The movement speed from using summoner spells is incredibly helpful.


Slot 2
Transcendence is my personal favorite rune in this particular tree. The ability haste is much needed on Shyvana and the level 11 passive will get you an additional fireball in tight timings. Celerity is another mobility rune, which is always good on Shyvana.


Slot 3
Waterwalking provides additional stats and movement speed when you are in the river. This can be a big surprise boost when you are in duels. Gathering Storm gives you better scaling into the mid and late game, the time where Shyvana shines.

Precision

Slot 1
Triumph is the only rune to take in this slot but it still provides great value. The heal will get your out of many close calls. The additional gold is just icing on the cake.


Slot 2
Legend: Alacrity gives attack speed that is always good and utilized on Shyvana. Legend: Haste is equally good but it gives haste which is more commonly found in Shyvana items. Ability haste benefits the medium length cooldowns on her abilities.


Slot 3
Coup de Grace helps you burst down targets below a certain health threshold. It provides similar damage boost compared to Last Stand. This choice between the three is really up to your preference. Don't stress too much over the difference.

Domination


Slot 1
Sudden Impact provides similar damage compared to Cheap Shot but I prefer the extra penetration. Taste of Blood could work here as well but just keep in mind that it is more of a laning rune as the cooldown is 20 seconds.


Slot 2
Eyeball Collection will stack automatically as you get takedowns but I like to run Zombie Ward in higher ranks because the vision provides so much for your team. In lower ranks, players are more prone to not placing down wards.


Slot 3
Treasure Hunter has been my replacement since Ravenous Hunter was removed. The extra gold allows Shyvana to hit important early spikes more consistently. Relentless Hunter is also an option here as the movespeed is crucial as a jungler.

Inspiration

Slot 1
Magical Footwear gives you free boots with an added bonus movement speed. Mobility is always good on Shyvana. The extra movespeed from the magical boots can be the difference between getting a kill and getting killed as mobility is crucial on her.

Slot 2
Triple Tonic is the only rune I would consider from this slot but even this option is really pushing it. I never take runes from this slot but this rune gives you a skill point at level 9 and adaptive force at 6. Maybe this rune can be used to sneak a faster dragon?


Slot 3
Cosmic Insight is the standard rune to take from this tree. Shortened cooldown on smite and your other summoner can really boost your dueling. Approach Velocity can help you gap close (great with


Resolve


Slot 2
Conditioning synergizes well with Shyvana's passive as it gives bonus percentage resistances. Additional tankiness is great on builds that force you to play in melee range. Bone Plating is a great rune for 1v1's against burst damage. With this rune, almost no one can win solo versus you.


Slot 3
Overgrowth synergizes well with Shyvana's ultimate as it gives bonus health. Tankiness is always good on melee builds. Unflinching now gives extra resistances when crowd controlled. This can help Shyvana survive compositions that heavily rely on locking you down.


Another popular secondary page is


For the AD builds:



A combo I personally like to run is


For AP Bruiser:
I'm usually running







Scorchclaw Pup
This item will give you a slow on any sort of damage you deal upon being charged at 100 stacks. It will also deal a burn damage of a percentage of your target's maximum health. This smite item makes sure you will have enough stickiness and damage to finish off the target you initiated on.
Gustwalker Hatchling
This item will give you a speed boost when you are in a bush and the boost decays once you exit the bush. This is my favorite smite item because of the extra mobility it gives. Not only will it allow you to rotate extremely fast if utilized correctly, it will also get you from camp to camp quicker, leaving little downtime in the jungle and help you move around in fights. This effect is very useful on all builds but takes more intention to maximize value.

Once again, a lot of this is up to player preference so try these summoners out yourself to optimize your setup.
Flash
When playing AP Shyvana, default to flash because it is too valuable as a defensive and offensive summoner. You are also squishier compared to other builds and require the additional strength in escaping. Flash can also be used to extend your

Ghost
Ghost is a really underrated summoner on Shyvana and should probably be more popular. The movement speed will help you stay on top of your target. Ghost makes melee builds much more reliable as it can negate Shyvana's biggest weakness of getting kited. It can ensure the extension of


Treat your auto attack as an ability because it is the center piece of

Notes:

Extends

Extra damage on targets marked by

Gain 2 fury per auto attack
Description:
Notes:

Early dragons can snowball the game due to the tank stats gained
Passive does absolutely NOTHING if your team gets no dragons
Description:
In dragon form,

Notes:
Cooldown doesn't start until the attack lands or until after 6 seconds
Description:

Additionally, auto attacking while the ability is active will deal extra damage onto targets in range. In dragon form,

Notes:
Hold the spell until you are in range of an auto attack within the next 3 seconds
Description:
In dragon form, upon colliding with an enemy champion or reaching the targeted spot, the fireball explodes and creates a circle of flame burning enemies every 0.5 seconds.
Notes:
Can use

Description:
During flight, you become displacement immune. In human form, you passively generate fury per second but also 2 fury per auto attack.
Notes:
Use

Auto attack minions and monsters to build up fury for ultimate
Once your auto attack has gone through, immediately press Q and auto attack again.
E + Flash
Flash during the channel of your

R + AA + E + Q
A dragon combo to proc PTA and get damage off quickly.






The item priority in the two different builds are slightly different due to the fighting range of the builds. With a Nashor's Tooth, you are looking to weave in more auto attacks. Without Nashor's, you are only looking to weave in an occasional


Buying attack speed and ability haste enables a splitpushing playstyle that can be really strong at destroying turrets.
🟨 = Core








For boots, purchase

If you need healing reduction, just sit on an




At full items, it is common to sell

1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
|
Nashor's
| ||||
Rabadon's
| ||||
Horizon & Cosmic & Crypt
| ||||
Mejai's & Zhonya's & Banshee's
|
The most common AD Shyvana build as of recent is with


The second way of playing AD Shyvana focuses more on spreading your damage across all abilities and being tankier with the build.
🟨 = Core










Choose 1
AD Shyvana's boots are actually incredibly flexible. I've personally tried



For boots, purchase


If you need healing reduction, just sit on an


4th and 5th item are really dependent on the game and should vary almost every game. Knowing how to optimally itemize can win you many games. Ask yourself if you need more damage or more survivability and choose your items based off that.
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
| |
BoRK
| |||||
Trinity Force
| |||||
Sterak's & Wit's & Titanic
| |||||
DMP & DD & Stridebreaker
| |||||
Guardian Angel
|
🟨 = Core










Choose 1
For boots, purchase


Going a tank item second should only happen if enemy is heavy AD or AP. Otherwise, buy a damage item.
If you need healing reduction, just sit on an



1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
|
Spear of Shojin
| ||||
Liandry's
| ||||
Horizon Focus
| ||||
Damage Options
| ||||
Tanky Options
|

Although jungling doesn't change from champion to champion, each champion has their own set of priorities when it comes to decision-making. The strengths and weaknesses of a champion define these priorities.
Shyvana's basic kit is not great at ganking and prefers enemies to walk into her instead of the other way around. To make fights work, she needs to stay one step ahead of the enemy jungler. She excels at quickly farming camps and objectives. With her ultimate, her ganks become a lot more potent. These pros and cons determine what we should prioritize when playing Shyvana.
Note:

Know the lane states

Neutral objective timers

Enemy vision



I currently only do ideal path #1 but if you are newer, you should start with learning ideal path #2 and alternate path #1.
This is the ideal start that I've been running in every game in Season 14. Although it is more advanced, you should understand why it is so good. By doing the small camps first, it enables a faster respawn on these camps and it can efficiently get you to level 5 really quickly.
The video below explains a little bit about the pathing.
This is the ideal start to a game where no invades happen and you are free to clear all 6 camps into a scuttle. This path allows you to full clear the jungle in the least amount of time. It also puts you very close to the scuttle at the end of the path. Depending on the jungle matchup and the rank of the enemy jungler, you might not get this start as often as you would like.
OUTDATED BUT A GOOD REFERENCE
If you do this path, start with

This path is slower by a few seconds, but you might want to do this in some games. Reasons include: preference for getting a leash, whether or not you want to fight the enemy jungler at scuttle, or that you want to path towards a particular lane to gank. This path also puts your further from the scuttle. Keep in mind, there is no gromp healing at the end of the path.
This path is not as efficient in terms of gold and experience but it opens up many options. After doing gromp, you have the opportunity to look for a fast early gank in a lane with good setups. If no such options exist then you continue with blue buff and wolves while reacting to the map. You are at the center of the map so it gives you better access to either sides.

In the early game, Shyvana aims to control the jungle camps and dragon objective while not giving up too much map presence. Remaining at least even with the enemy jungler in terms of experience and gold in this stage usually means that you have the advantage.





Utilize your trinket to prevent any early game disasters. There are a few ways I like to use my early trinkets. The most common one is to drop a


Choose your pathing based on the jungle matchup and the lane matchups. You may do the same full clear every game but if you are looking to become a better jungler, you need to switch things up. In general, try to path towards lanes with good gank setups as

Tracking the enemy jungler is an essential skill for

Prioritize reaching level 6 as fast as possible because this is a big power spike for Shyvana. A lot of games are lost due to being stuck at level 5 for too long. Look for waves to hold/push to accelerate the hitting level 6. First dragon will give you about one camp's worth of experience. It is usually not worth to lose 2 camps over the first dragon.
Take a dragon aggressively to fully take advantage of your passive. Try to bring an


Punish enemy laners that are over-extended or have



Make sure you are doing all of the things suggested down below during ganks because of how weak Shyvana's ganks are. If we don't try our best to maximize our ganking success rate, it can greatly hurt our chances of winning the game. This section is about how to execute a gank after spotting it out.
Look at all the CC between you and your laners. On Shyvana, you may have a red buff,




Communicate with pings
The general rule is to always ping at least three "on the way" pings. Laners are usually not even looking at the mini-map and if they don't know the gank is coming, there is a big chance of it failing. Try not to ping too early or too late. If you walk on top of vision and decide to back out, use your "area is warded" and "caution" pings to notify your team. This is a very important detail as it can become a disaster if your team engages when you've already decided to back off.
Be patient for ganks
Most ganks require the jungler to wait for the right moment outside of vision in order for the gank to be successful. Do not mindlessly walk into a lane when ganking. There are signals to watch out for. Enemies usually will walk up further in a lane when killing a cannon minion or returning a trade. Watch for abilities being used and spring out of vision as soon as it happens. Every single fraction of the second matters in a gank.
In the clip below, I knew


How to use your spells
Once you are in the vision of the enemy, try to path towards their path of escape instead of directly to them. Once you are in

It is much easier to hit a human fireball in close range than it is from afar. If the enemy is immobilized then you may use




Example #1:







Example #2:










Counter-gank Example:





In the mid game, Shyvana aims to control vision around the map for easy objectives and picks onto the enemy team. In the meanwhile, taking camps off both sides of the map with her incredible clear speed. Also fully utilizing the ability to quickly charge up your ultimate after fights to outpace the enemies and completely depriving them of resources.
Shyvana's kit allows her to clear out multiple wards with just one usage of sweeper. This can provide extremely high value if you are able to track where the enemy support has put down wards. Try to not use your

Learn the common ward spots and sweep them all out by using auto +


Leave no camps nor waves behind
Continue to farm the map because Shyvana is heavily reliant on gold/items and is quite good at farming camps. Do not limit yourself to only your side of the map. If you control the vision well or time your skirmishes effectively, you can safely counter-jungle the enemy.
A lot of the times, players forget or fail to recognize minion waves they can clear. Don't let these opportunities slip by!
Skirmish in the sidelanes
By targeting one of the sidelanes, you are playing to

Be careful fighting right before an objective is spawning as you may be left without fury to use

Target the objectives
Do not take this point lightly. You can win many games if you simply focus on grabbing dragons and leading that into a dragon soul even if you are not jungling particularly well. Shyvana is able to do objectives quickly due to

If you see enemies committed too hard to one side of the map, do not hesitate to ping your team to grab an objective even if it's a baron. However, learn when to give up an objective when you know a fight simply cannot be won. Try to set up a different play on the other side of the map.
Securing the objectives
If you can't secure objectives with your






Destroy the turrets
Ultimately, the mid game is about cracking the enemy base open. Shyvana's kit makes her a strong turret killer and even more so if you build the items for it. Her auto attack +

Items like



Try to avoid teamfighting without your ultimate (especially if you are full AP). If you are close to 100 fury and the fight has already started, in most cases, it is better to auto attack camps and arrive late with ultimate than arrive on time without.
Manage your fury in dragon form
Usually during teamfights, you want to prolong dragon form for as long as possible. To accomplish this, look for whatever is available to auto attack around you. Remember that using

Fully utilize your fireballs
Dragon form

Aim for multiple targets
The aoe range on your fireball is quite big in dragon form. Hit multiple targets at once to fully utilize the damage it has. Think of hitting additional targets instead of one as multiplying your damage.
Burnout is not for damage
Ideally yes you want to land the land from your



Twin Bite has a low cooldown
The ability's cooldown can get very low in the later stages of the game where you have it maxed out plus ability haste. Remember that the cooldown is also reduced on every auto attack. A common mistake people make is not realizing the ability is already off cooldown and they miss out on the damage.
Teamfighting is not just about using you abilities correctly but also who you target and how you target them.
Flanks are incredibly strong regardless of build. Shyvana is great at clearing vision for flanks and a successful one can help you land a lot more damage as enemies will not be able to instantly react to an engage from an unsuspecting angle. In a common flank, Shyvana is able to land her ultimate across multiple targets from behind and position safely as she ults into her own team.
Drop the ego and peel!
In some games, you may not be the win condition and need to play for another player. For example, if you have a good

In the above clip,






For full AP builds, fights are usually led with an ultimate. Below are some tips focused on using ultimate.
This ability scales 1:1 with AP and can destroy an entire team if enemies are CC'd or if the ultimate is from out of vision.
Sometimes a gap closer
A common situation is when a fight starts and you are not close enough to the action. You may use ultimate to gap close (even to jump over walls) to get close and also transform at the same time.
Sometimes a disengage
Shyvana's ultimate puts her in an unstoppable status and can be very powerful if used effectively. You may play really aggressive to bait out an engage from the enemy team and use ultimate to position yourself to safety. Do this with caution as it requires good reaction time.
Sometimes just transform
Later into the game, this becomes more common as enemy gets more damage and you cannot afford to jump in. You may use ultimate simply to get into dragon form.
Using ultimate to hit even one person can be very worth it. Look for stragglers on the side for this opportunity.
Most of your damage is in your

Do not throw random fireballs just because you have them. It is usually better to hold this spell for a better opportunity. Be patient when using this spell as it is a lot of damage but can be missed or mistargeted very easily.
Deadly from fog
If possible, try to shoot this ability from fog of war so the enemies will not be alerted with the cast animation or sound effect. Hitting a carry from an unsuspecting angle can be game-winning.
In the above clip, I arrive to the fight a little late but I find







For AD Shyvana builds, the primary source of your damage is coming from auto attacks and




Still not an engage champion
In the majority of the games, Shyvana will not be tanky enough to be the engage onto 3+ targets. Instead, try to play as the follow-up damage to the engage.
Be smarter with ultimate
Shyvana's damage here is not reliant on


Sometimes you can get more damage off by not using

In the below clip, I see









In the above clip, I spot out a straggler in






For the AP Bruiser build, your value is derived from being able to tank a lot of damage while playing off multiple rotations of your high base damage.
Most of the time, you will want to zero in on the most important player on the enemy team. If you manage to land your ultimate and fireball, you almost always will have enough damage to kill a squishy while considering



You can now engage!
With this tankier build, engage options really open up. If engage is lacking in your team composition then consider a

Remember to auto attack
Since this build sometimes utilizes



Breaking the nexus is obviously the ultimate objective in the game. How you get to that step may look very different from game to game. Continue with the ideas from the mid game section (maybe link) but with an added focus of deeper map control through vision and turret destruction.
There aren't specific tricks to ending the game as Shyvana but in this section we discuss what it looks like to end the game as Shyvana.
The typical end:
The normal way to ending the game is usually by overpowering the enemy in terms of gold/stats. With this, you gain more favorable fighting opportunities hence the ability to pressure vision and objective control. This opens up more picking opportunities, better fights, and faster rotations. As you break down turrets methodically, the enemy team will have to surrender map control and eventually the super minions will overwhelm them into a nexus-breaking push.
To get better opportunities such as picks and good teamfights, you will need deeper vision. Not only does this mean wards deeper in enemy jungle but also pushing back enemy vision. Luckily, Shyvana is great at eliminating vision! There is a limit to how many wards and sweepers we have so we try to only control the vision on the side we are play on. For example, if we are trying to fight for a baron buff, we would try to control the vision around this particular objective. Doing this successfully will severely limit what the enemy team can do.
Continue looking for picks
With the added vision control, picks should be easier and more common. Shyvana excels at picking with

Objectives win games
With the vision control, highly prioritize these objectives!
Teamfighting involves multiple members from both teams and the below notes are assumming a fight larger than 3v3. This is actually rare until very late into the game as Shyvana wants to look for picks especially on the AD builds.
Baron
Teamfighting as Shyvana on different builds only start to become apparent in the later stages of the game. Every teamfight situation is different and therefore I cannot tell you exactly how to play each fight but below are some general tips to get you to teamfight correctly.
Elder Dragon
Teamfighting as Shyvana on different builds only start to become apparent in the later stages of the game. Every teamfight situation is different and therefore I cannot tell you exactly how to play each fight but below are some general tips to get you to teamfight correctly.
Outers to inners
Usually you want to destroy turrets layer by layer. This means that you should try to destroy turrets of the same tier before you go deeper. This is not always true but a good rule to help you end games most consistently as the turrets dictate where the enemies can walk to.
Sieging
In the above clip, a typical siege for AP Shyvana occurs. First, clear the vision around the turret you are sieging. Second, use

Splitpushing
Splitpushing is a strategy Shyvana can take advantage of. She is very good at destroying turrets and 1v1's. If coordinated correctly with your team, this is a reliable way to end the game.

SECTION IS WORK-IN-PROGRESS
THIS SECTION IS INCOMPLETE AND OUT-OF-DATE.
I am only keeping it here for reference if I ever want to come back and complete it.
Disclaimer:
The preferred items for each champion is simply a rough guideline. Item builds should revolve around not just the enemy composition but your own as well. The preferred items are simply good items to start with if you are looking to counter the champion.
Whether or not you can win a scuttle fight depends heavily on landing

Index:
Watch out for level 1 invade or late invade. Drop an early ward at jungle entrace.
[2]: This champion is a strong level 2 invader.
Watch out for enemy going from their own buff to one of yours.
Examples:
Enemy Red(lv.2) → Jump Pit Wall → Ally Blue
[3]: This champion is a strong level 3 invader.
Watch out for enemy doing 3 camps and then invading your remaining buff.
Examples:
Enemy Red(lv.2) → Krugs → Raptors(lv.3) → Invade Blue
Enemy Red(lv.2) → Enemy Blue → Gromp(lv.3) → Invade Red
[4]: This champion likes to full clear or 5 camps into scuttle.
This usually means the champion is vulnerable to an early invade during their full clear.
Examples:
Enemy Red(lv.2) → Krugs → Raptors(lv.3) → Wolves → Enemy Blue → Gromp(lv.4)
Enemy Blue(lv.2) → Krugs → Raptors(lv.3) → Wolves → Enemy Blue → Gromp(lv.4)
[5]: This champion is a strong level 2 ganker.
Watch out for enemy doing buff and then ganking immediately.
Examples:
Enemy Red(lv.2) → Gank Mid
Enemy Blue(lv.2) → Gank Bot
[6]: This champion is a strong level 3 ganker.
Watch out for enemy doing 3 camps and then ganking. Likely paths include Red, Blue, Gromp and Red, Raptor, Gromp or even clearing an entire side then ganking.
Examples:
Enemy Red(lv.2) → Krugs → Raptors(lv.3) → Gank Bot
Enemy Blue(lv.2) → Gromp → Enemy Red(lv.3) → Gank Top
[7]: This champion has flexible pathing.
Be on the alert at all times! This champion probably has a good clear speed and good dueling/ganking potential.
UNFINISHED SECTION








Also special thanks to...
Katasandra for the helpful guides on making guides.
jhoijhoi for the code examples.
The Chinese Booster that exclusively plays AD Shyvana for all the ideas and replays.
Nolan for knowledge and discussion about Shyvana in general.
and all the Shyvana players that contribute to the statistics that I obsess over.
If you read to this point, thank you for your time.
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